The tax on mobile talk time introduced in the current year's budget raked in revenues of Tk 209 crore in the first six months.
In the budget for fiscal 2015-16, a 3 percent supplementary duty was
imposed on mobile talk time on top of the existing 15 percent
value-added tax at the subscriber level.
Finance Minister AMA Muhith told parliament recently that the mobile
operators realised Tk 1,253.14 crore in VAT and supplementary duty on
call charges between July and December last year.
On sales of SIM cards, Tk 291.59 crore was collected during the period.
Most of the 3 percent supplementary duty is being realised from low-income users.
Of the total revenue of Tk 1,544.73 crore, Grameenphone paid Tk
981.91 crore, which is the highest, and Citycell Tk 0.01 crore, the
lowest. At present, there are 13.50 crore active mobile connections.
Each user spends Tk 150 on an average every month, according to the
officials of mobile companies. If anybody uses above Tk 1,000 per month,
he/she is considered a “rich user”.
The officials said about 10 percent of the subscribers spend more
than Tk 1,000 each month, and the rest between Tk 200 and Tk 500.
